Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Webcam (Bison) firmware update issue - hotfix

Here is the latest solution provided by Lenovo for those of you who are having problem with the webcam on the S10 or S10e after the firmware upgrade. You can download the latest firmware that solves the problem here but please read the release notes carefully before you take any action. I have reproduced the main points below and the most important point to note is not to do any firmware upgrade if you are not having any problem with your webcam.

"SYMPTOM:
After installing the Bison Camera Firmware Upgrade, the S10 camera will stop working and display only grey or black background.
AFFECTED CONFIGURATIONS:
Ideapad S10 can be equipped with two different camera sensors. The firmware upgrade available on the website, (version 1404) would damage the existing firmware of one of the cameras and cause the problem described above.
Important Note: This hotfix must ONLY be installed on the machines affected by the symptoms described above. If the camera is working properly, do not install this hotfix. Otherwise, the camera firmware will be destroyed permanently.
A new Firmware upgrade, version 1405, has been released and is available on the website in order to prevent the issue from happening."

Good luck.

Ronald Kwok
http://ronaldkwok.atomicblog.hop.clickbank.net/

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15 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 30, 2009 at 2:23 PM

    My webcam is died after the upgrade. What should I do to restore original configuration?

    Nino

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ronald KwokApril 30, 2009 at 3:05 PM

    Hi Nino, was your webcam working before this? In any case, I would suggest to call your local Lenovo support to assist in this matter. You may want to try the One Key Restore to factory settings (if you do not mind losing all the new stuff) but it may not work. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 8, 2009 at 3:55 PM

    My camera also died after the upgrade and here is what I did to fix it:

    1. Download the earlier firmware (http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_show_1259.html)

    2. Go to your webcam driver's folder (in my case c:\driver\...) and rename the file (I am not sure if you might just as well delete it but I wanted to be on the safe side).

    3. Install the version that you downloaded and reboot.

    4. Camera should be working again.

    Hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ronald KwokMay 8, 2009 at 8:47 PM

    Thanks for the comment, hope it'll help those similarly affected.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 19, 2009 at 5:40 PM

    The links posted above no longer work. Do you have a copy of the file from Lenovo? If so, how can I go about getting a copy from you?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ronald KwokJuly 20, 2009 at 5:45 PM

    Hi J,
    I am sorry I do not have a copy of the file required, wished I had downloaded it and kept a copy. Maybe you can try and ask in the Lenovo forums.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousJuly 22, 2009 at 3:40 PM

    hi! need some help. i hope i can explain my problem clearly. anyway, i did not set a password for my netbook. so, whenever i switch it on, it goes straight to the desktop. that's how i like it. but a couple of weeks ago, things changed. when i power on my s10, the webcam screen appears as well as the screen with the username. i'll nid to close the webcam and then click on my user name to enter my desktop. i didn't change any configurations, just performed the usual windows update. is there anything that i can do to get it back to its original state?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ronald KwokJuly 27, 2009 at 5:10 PM

    Hi simpliciti101, not sure if this will help but you can try. Go to Control Panel> User Account and then pick your Account to make changes. See if there's any option that suits what you want. Read all the help files that are there before making any changes to know what they do! (Don't lock yourself out with the key inside!!!)
    Or maybe should try this first - if you are not using the webcam, turn it off by pressing Fn+Esc and try power on again. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousAugust 24, 2009 at 5:28 PM

    Hi Ronald,
    My S10 camera also stop working and display only grey. I was failed to login the URL link
    (http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_show_1260.html#), it showing an error on the their website.

    Can you provide me another link of Firmware upgrade, version 1405?

    Thanks.

    Regards,
    wcgan

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousApril 11, 2010 at 3:10 PM

    Here is the link for the Bios:

    http://consumerdl.lenovo.com.cn/UserFiles/Driver/en/Downloads%20and%20Drivers/S10/XP/Bison_UpdateTool_MultiLan_1404.exe

    - Vishal

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ronald KwokApril 12, 2010 at 7:51 AM

    Hi Vishal, thanks for sharing. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousApril 26, 2010 at 2:42 PM

    Lenovo S10-2 webcam,

    Hi Guys, I figured out a way to cure the problem. Its not anything fancy, but if you install the new veriface software which you can get from lenovo itself, for some reason the program is able to bypass something and activate the camera. The only caveat is that you have to have the veriface activated and use it for logging in to your PC. I figure this out when I uninstalled it and my camera stopped working. then i reinstalled it and magically started again.

    hope this helps

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ronald KwokApril 27, 2010 at 2:49 PM

    Thanks for sharing this tip. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  14. inputnsMay 5, 2012 at 4:42 PM

    I install 1404 firmware on my c10e and now webcam not working,it's gray screen, does anybody have fix for this?

    ReplyDelete

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